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Necromancy
For centuries, the unwholesome practice of Necromancy has fostered legend and superstition. Experiments conducted in catacombs and graveyards, mortuaries and crypts have codified the paths of Necromancy and given vampires power over the corpses and spirits of the dead. Vampires who study necromantic magic must utilize human corpses, hands of murderers, portions of spirit essence, and other difficult-to-obtain items for use in such depraved and morbid spells. Needless to say, such repugnant practices can have a detrimental effect on one’s Humanity. Necromancy has certain limitations: * Necromancy relies upon a necromancer speaking magical phrases and making specific gestures. Use of blood magic is easy to notice, and the methods used to activate such powers are rarely subtle. * All Necromancy paths and rituals are considered Social powers and as such, cannot be used during Celerity rounds. * Specific Necromancy powers that are resisted with your target’s Physical attribute can be repeatedly used against a target. This is an exception to the rule that prohibits a character from using a Social power on the same target immediately after failing. Powers that are resisted with the target’s Social attribute cannot be attempted repeatedly. You must wait 10 minutes before retrying such a power, as per the standard rule. Necromancy consists of multiple paths of study and expands into several individual rituals. To purchase a path of Necromancy and Necromantic rituals, a character must possess a specific merit that allows her to do so, such as the Necromantic Training merit, or a similar clan-specific merit. For more information on these merits, see Chapter Five: Merits, page 252. Primary Path: The first path of Necromancy that a character masters to the 2nd dot is considered her primary path of study. To improve any other path of Necromancy, she must first improve her capabilities in her primary path. A character can never become more skilled in other paths of Necromancy than she is in her primary path of study; she cannot learn the 3rd dot of another path until after she has learned the 3rd dot of her primary path, and so forth. Characters of clans with a specific in-clan path of Necromancy may choose another path as their primary path, so long as they meet the requirements as stated above. Necromantic Rituals: Necromancy does not have elder powers or techniques. Instead, practitioners of this art gain access to mystical rituals. Necromancy rituals are formulaic and require a significant amount of time, as well as specialized implements and ingredients. You cannot buy a specific Necromancy ritual until you have purchased the appropriate dot of Necromancy to support that ritual. Learning a level 4 ritual requires you already possess 4 dots in your primary Necromancy path. The cost to purchase a ritual is equal to the ritual’s level times two. Therefore, a level 3 ritual costs 6 XP to purchase. A necromancer cannot learn more rituals than dots of Necromancy that she currently possesses. For example, Marianna Giovanni possesses 4 dots in the Sepulchre Path, her primary path, as well as 3 dots in the Bone Path, and 2 dots in the Ash Path. Thus, she can learn nine Necromancy rituals. True Corpse: The term “true corpse” is used throughout the descriptions of necromantic powers. A true corpse is a creature’s physical remains: i.e. the dead body of an animal or human. This term does not refer to corpses that have been animated as zombies, nor does it include vampires, wraiths, nor other supernatural creatures. The Shadowlands: Wraiths and spectres exist in the Shadowlands, a land of the dead that overlaps with the physical, tangible world. For more information on the Shadowlands, see the description of Wraith NPCs in Chapter Twelve: Allies and Antagonists, page 500. Necromancy Test Pool: The Necromancy wielder uses her Social attribute + Occult versus the target’s Social attribute + Willpower. Paths and Abilities The Sepulchre Path (page 172) The Sepulchre Path encompasses the study of spirits, ghosts, and intangible entities. Through the practice of this path, a vampire can summon and control wraiths, forcing them to serve the necromancer’s will. Unless otherwise noted, powers that affect ghosts, wraiths, and spectres can only be used on the spirits of the dead. These powers cannot be used on psychically projected, Umbral, or otherwise intangible entities. # Witness Death: This power allows you to see, hear, and speak with the dead and understand each other despite language differences. # Torment: Allows the caster to deal damage directly to a wraith or spectre. # Summon Soul: Allows the caster to summon a 2 point wraith NPC under the casters control, if summoning a specific person the true name must be known otherwise it just summons the closet wraith available. # Bind Soul: Allows the caster to bind a wraith or spectre to a location or non-living object, the wraith can not move more than 10 feet from what it is bound to. While bound the wraith is completely under the casters command and is treated as a 3 point retainer. # Soul Stealing: Allows the caster to rip the soul out of a living or unliving body unless the victim burns a willpower. If successful the soul of the victim appears in the shadowlands for an hour and the body drops like a marionette with it's strings cut. The Bone Path (page 174) The study of the Bone Path is the study of physical corpses; rotting flesh and dusty bone. By mastering the Bone Path, a necromancer gains the ability to create and destroy zombies and shambling hordes of undead. These creatures mindlessly obey the necromancer’s commands. # Eyes of the Dead: By looking at corpse the caster can tell how it died and see the last moments of it's life, from it's point of view. # Destroy Husk: Allows the caster to destroy a True Corpse or Zombie, can't be used on anything with sentience like a vampire. # Shambling Hordes: Allows the caster to raise a number of true corpses into zombies, the zombies are 3 point NPCs and whole under the command of the caster. No mental or social powers will effect zombies, with the exception of Necromancy. The caster may control a number of zombies in this fashion equal to his occult. # Morbidity: Allows the caster to heal a zombie of 3 damage, raise a wraiths NPC level by 1, or the make a fully healed zombie appear alive for a time (weeks) # Death's Puppetry: Allows the caster to bodily possess a true corpse or body currently missing it's soul. The Ash Path (page 176) The study of the Ash Path is the study of the Shadowlands: the other world of the dead. Through focused research regarding the transference of the soul from this world to the next, a necromancer learns to strengthen or weaken the Shroud, and even to pass back and forth between the two worlds. # Shroud Sight: Allows the caster to see beyond the shroud, not just the inhabitants like witness death but the landscape and general area as well. # Shroud Mastery: Allows the caster to manipulate the thickness of the shroud separating worlds, making it easier or more difficult for wraiths and spectres to manifest. # Dead Hand: Allows the caster to reach across the shroud and retrieve something from the other side without traveling there themselves. # Stygian Lance: Allows the caster to hurl a lance of necromantic power across the shroud dealing direct damage to the casters target. # Ex Nihilo: Allows the caster and up to three zombies only to physically step across the shroud. The Mortis Path (page 178) The Mortis Path deals with the physical processes and manifestations of death as they affect the physical form. This path springs from a deep necromantic understanding of the undead form, and it philosophically focuses on the nature of a corpse as a gateway between life and death. In ancient times, members of the Cappadocian clan were the preeminent necromancers of vampire society, but over the centuries, their proprietorship over the discipline has weakened. Now, only the Mortis Path remains as the exclusionary path of Necromancy practiced by that ancient clan. Only Cappadocian and the Cappadocian bloodline of Lamia can learn this path of Necromancy. Neither Giovanni, nor the Samedi bloodline, have innate access to this path. # Masque of Death: Allows the caster to take on the guise of a true corpse, none of the normal vampire weaknesses are present but the caster is unable to move. # Resume the Coil: Allows the caster to awaken themselves or another vampire from torpor. # Blight: Allows the caster to infect a victim with a wasting disease that over the course of many hours will kill a mortal or put a vampire into torpor if not stopped. # Reapers Passing: Allows the caster to scare a victim with a vision of their own deaths and prevent their next action. # The Fourth Horseman: Allows the caster to transform into a manifestation of death, dealing extra damage and draining the life force of those too close. The Nihilistic Path (Unique to Trials of Caine, storyteller permission only) The Nihilistics Path is one of two dark paths recovered from the lost spell books of the Oblivion tainted labyrinth. Home to spectres, nephwracks, and the god like evil Malfeans, its a twisted and evil place that with enough time will taint the souls of anyone trespassing there. Not unlike Dark Thamaturgy use beyond the first power leaves a taint on the aura for a time, though not an infernal taint it's instead an oblivion taint which would not be recognized except by an experienced Necromancer. The Nihilistic Path focuses on summoning and using the powers of un-creation found in Oblivion. # Oblivion Sense: The caster can see the taint of Oblivion on everything he sees, from living things to locations. # Soul Consumption: Allows the caster to literally devour a wraith or spectre to grant themselves blood. # Aura of Decay: Allows the caster to exude oblivion through their skin causing everything nearby to suffer damage as it's broken down by oblivion's power. # Black Breath: Allows the caster to breathe out a gout of black oblivion flame dealing damage to 3 targets at a time. # Nightcry: Allows the caster to summon for a short period monsters from the labyrinth to fight, unfortunately the monsters attack everything in the area including the caster. Worse the things summoned tend to be things from the darkest parts of nightmare. The Corruption Path (Unique to Trials of Caine, storyteller permission only) The Corruption Path one of two dark paths recovered from the lost spell books of the Oblivion tainted labyrinth. Home to spectres, nephwracks, and the god like evil Malfeans, its a twisted and evil place that with enough time will taint the souls of anyone trespassing there. Not unlike Dark Thamaturgy use beyond the first power leaves a taint on the aura for a time, though not an infernal taint it's instead an oblivion taint which would not be recognized except by an experienced Necromancer. The Corruption Path focuses on using the targets shadow, the dark reflection of their own soul, against them. The worst part is this path is more mental than most and so can be cast covertly unlike most Necromancy. # Coax the Shadow: Allows the caster to cause a terrible despair to enter the victim, mortals including Mages and Fae will attempt suicide while Vampires or Lupines enter frenzy. # Lurid Visions: Allows the caster to give any Kindred two beast traits or give a living target two derangement's of the storytellers choice. # Enmity: Allows the caster to make the victim a pariah and hated, gives the victim a minus 4 to their social attribute and instantly suspect for the worst crime possible (ex: infernalism, diablarie, etc...) # Harvest Agony: Allows the caster to drain willpower from a victim and use it to replenish their own, while giving a beast trait or derangement to the victim. # Withered Aegis: Allows the caster to make the victims shadow start consuming them from the inside causing damage for a set number of turns. Rituals Rituals are necromantic formulas that create powerful magical effects. They make use of unusual and rare ingredients, and take significantly more time to cast than the simple spells of a necromantic path. All practitioners of Necromancy have the capacity to perform rituals equivalent to their mastery with that art. Rituals must be learned and purchased separately from paths; you do not acquire them simply by purchasing a path of Necromancy. Like paths, they are rated from levels 1-5, and a caster can have several rituals corresponding to each level of the progression. A necromancer must purchase one ritual of each level before she is able to purchase a ritual at the next-higher level. So, in order to purchase a level 2 ritual, a necromancer must already possess at least one level 1 ritual; or in order to purchase a level 3 ritual, she must already possess at least one level 2 ritual, and so forth. No character can learn more necromantic rituals than she possesses dots in all of her Necromancy paths. Total all your dots from all known paths of Necromancy to determine the maximum number of rituals your character can possess. Level 1 Rituals * Call the Hungry Dead: Plague a victim with voices from beyond the shroud. * Circle of Cerberus: Inscribe a circle of protection, increasing your ability to resist wraiths and spectres. * Dark Assistant: Reanimate a severed hand or skull to act as an assistant. * Eyes of the Grave: Destroy a picture of a victim and temporarily blind them. * Smoking Mirror: Allows a mirror to be enchanted to see across the shroud. * Warping the Mortal Visage: Change a true corpse's features to make it unrecognizable. Level 2 Rituals * Black Blood: Turns the Necromancers blood into a black poison who damages anyone drinking it. * Din of the Damned: Wards a room with an overwhelming noise of from beyond the shroud, laughing, screaming, curses screamed at the inhabitants. * Sepulchral Beacon: Allows the Necromancer to sense breaches in the shroud nearby. * Stained Sight: Curses a victim to see the world as a rotting, wasted husk for a short time. * Scales of Ma'at: Allows a Necromancer to tell how powerful a wraith is. * Apparition: Allows the necromancer to disappear from non sentient observation, such as cameras, motion sensors, etc... for the rest of the night. Level 3 Rituals * Mouldering Presence: The Necromancer can decay inanimate objects with a touch. * Rise, Cerberus: Create a 4 point NPC guard dog bound to your haven. This ritual can be used multiple times to create multiple guard dogs. * Spirit Beacon: Enchant a human skull to either entice or repel wraiths and spectres. * The Servant Undying: Turn a retainer into an intelligent zombie after their death. * Bystander: The Necromancer becomes invisible to all but the most powerful wraiths and spectres. Level 4 Rituals * Bastone Diabolico: Create a weapon to do extra damage to wraiths and spectres. * Lethe's Water: Make a target friendly to the Necromancer for 10 mins. * Ritual of Xipe Totec: Peel the skin of a mortal and wear it as a perfect disguise. * Strength of Rotten Flesh: Increase the health levels and skills of your zombies. Level 5 Rituals * Chill of Oblivion: Reduce fire and sunlight damage to normal, but become more vulnerable to wraiths. * Weight of the Tomb: Makes a target associate something such as "driving" or "talking to the prince" with death and the target will avoid it if at all possible or take damage. Necropolis Haven Rituals These rituals were developed by the Samedi Samuel Devereux after observing the powers of Thamaturgy in haven defense in Venice and the New World. They are the product of a paranoid mind with access to unique powers, and as such are limited to the Samedi who invented them and are only available from him should he wish to teach them. Requires Storyteller Permission. * Dedicate the Necropolis: Makes all Necromancy rituals and powers inside the Necropolis more powerful. * Deny the Living: Creates a debilitating fear in anything mortal that approaches to close to the Necropolis. * Reinforce to Grave: Allows the construction of incredible strong and dry tunnels and rooms in areas not normally able to support them such as swamps, riverbeds, and collapsed mines. * Warding Circles: Creates a ward boundary keeping out everything but those allowed by the caster. * Defenders of the Necropolis: Links all the guards and the master of a Necropolis together to the Necropolis itself so what one knows all know. * Sight of Death: Makes the inside of the haven as dark as the pits of Oblivion unless keyed in by the caster even to supernatural sight and scrying. * Empower Servants:Strengthen the Zombies and Wraiths inside the Haven by improving their skills and extending their powers. * Lost and Forgotten: A more powerful Deny the Living, extending the effect to supernatural creatures causing them to run in terror if they get too close to the Necropolis unless they burn willpower to remain in the area. * Sap Life: Being inside the Necropolis without being keyed to the wards leech health levels from intruders and temporarily bestow them on the master of the Necropolis. * Mists of Death: Devours the life force of anything without willpower within and nearby the area of the Necropolis to feed the Amphora of Life. * Amphora of Life: Uses a bound mortal host to hold the life force collected by the Mists of Death and allows for a constantly regenerating source of blood for the master of the Necropolis. * Skull of Warning: Enchants a human skull or skulls to act as immovable sentry's capable of seeing through any form of hiding or camouflage including Obfuscate. * Halls of the Damned: Unless keyed in to the wards, makes it impossible to speak or hear inside the Necropolis by filling the it with the noise of the Maelstrom even to supernatural senses like telepathy as it's a shrieking in the soul not the ears. * Sanctuary of Living Death: Makes a number of corpses equal to your Necromancy within a set area waken as a 2 point NPCs zombies that are under the control of the Necromancer, they can't leave the set area but each time one is destroyed another will rise to take it's place.